The Day to Mark the Departure and Expulsion of Jews from the Arab Countries and Iran (Hebrew: יוֹם לְצִיּוֹן הָיְצִיאָה וְהַגִירוּשׁ שֶׁל הַיְהוּדִים מֵאַרְצוֹת עֲרָב וּמְאִירָאן Yōm ləṢīyyōn haYəṣīʾā vəhaGīrūš šel haYəhūdīm məʾArṣōt ʿĂrāv ūməʾĪrāʾn) is a National Day of Commemoration in Israel, observed every year on November 30th to memorialize the departure and expulsion of Jews from Arab countries and Iran.
Background
The Knesset adopted the commemoration day into law on June 23, 2014. November 30th was chosen due to its symbolic proximity to the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine - adopted on November 29th, 1947 - after which many Jewish communities in Middle Eastern and North African countries started to experience pressure and hostility from their Arab and Persian neighbors that ultimately resulted in a large scale exodus of Jewish communities from these countries. The law was sponsored by MK Shimon Ohayon of Yisrael Beiteinu.
For many Mizrahi Jews in Israel it is considered to be a belated recognition of a collective trauma long ignored institutionally throughout the country’s history.
Memorialization in Israel
On May 9, 2021, the first physical memorialization in Israel of the Departure and Expulsion of Jews from Arab lands and Iran was placed on the Sherover Promenade in Jerusalem.
The text on the Memorial reads;
"With the birth of the State of Israel, over 850,000 Jews were forced from Arab Lands and Iran. The desperate refugees were welcomed by Israel.
By Act of the Knesset: Nov. 30, annually, is the Departure and Expulsion Memorial Day. Memorial donated by the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation, With support from the World Sephardi Federation, City of Jerusalem and the Jerusalem Foundation"
The sculpture is the interpretive work of Sam Philipe, a fifth generation Jerusalemite.